Dynamic Discovery of Vehicle Communication Interface Device and Method

1. A vehicular diagnostic communication device comprising: a vehicular diagnostic tool configured to automatically detect a vehicle communication interface (VCI) when the VCI is operating within communication range of the vehicular diagnostic tool; the vehicular diagnostic tool further configured to wirelessly communicate with a vehicular computing system by connecting with the VCI, the VCI configured to convert a signal received from the vehicular computing system into a signal readable by the vehicular diagnostic tool and configured to wirelessly transmit the signal readable by the vehicular diagnostic tool to the vehicular diagnostic tool; and the vehicular diagnostic tool is further configured to multicast a query for an available VCI, establish a connection with the available VCI in response to receiving a response to the query, and continue to multicast the query for other available VCIs to update a status of the VCIs proximate to the vehicular diagnostic tool.

2. The vehicular diagnostic communication device of claim 1 , wherein the VCI is configured to respond to the query by wirelessly communicating a configuration parameter of the VCI to the vehicular diagnostic tool.

3. The vehicular diagnostic communication device of claim 2 , wherein the configuration parameter comprises at least one of a connection status of the VCI, an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the VCI, a network mask of the VCI and a serial number of the VCI.

4. The vehicular diagnostic communication device of claim 1 , wherein the vehicular diagnostic tool comprises a user interface configured to list multiple VCIs therein when more than one VCI is detected as operating proximate to the vehicular diagnostic tool.

5. The vehicular diagnostic communication device of claim 4 , wherein the user interface comprises a drop-down menu that displays information about one or more of the multiple VCIs.

6. The vehicular diagnostic communication device of claim 1 , wherein the vehicular diagnostic tool is configured to continue to multicast the query for available VCIs during the connection to update a status of the VCIs proximate to the vehicular diagnostic tool.

7. A vehicular diagnostic communication process comprising: transmitting a multicast query for an available vehicle communications interface (VCI) with a vehicular diagnostic tool; automatically detecting a VCI connected to a vehicular computing system with the vehicular diagnostic tool when the VCI is operating within communication range of the vehicular diagnostic tool; wirelessly connecting the vehicular diagnostic tool to the VCI; continuing to multicast the query for available VCIs; and updating a status of the VCIs within communication range to the vehicular diagnostic tool.

8. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 7 , wherein the continuing to multicast step is performed periodically until the VCI is detected.

9. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 8 , further comprising: periodically updating the query after the VCI has been detected.

10. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 7 , wherein the automatically detecting step further comprises: responding to the query by wirelessly communicating a configuration parameter of the VCI to the vehicular diagnostic tool.

11. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 10 , wherein the responding step comprises: wirelessly communicating at least one of a connection status of the VCI, an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the VCI, a network mask of the VCI and a serial number of the VCI as the configuration parameter.

12. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 10 , wherein the responding to the query step is performed substantially at startup of the VCI.

13. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 7 , further comprising: providing a user interface configured to list multiple VCIs therein when more than one VCI is detected as operating proximate to the vehicular diagnostic tool.

14. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 13 , further comprising: including a drop-down menu in the user interface, wherein the drop-down menu displays unique identification information about one or more of the multiple VCIs.

15. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 7 , further comprising: establishing an exclusive communication channel between the VCI and the vehicular diagnostic tool.

16. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 7 , further comprising: assigning Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to the vehicular diagnostic tool and to the VCI using standard network configurations.

17. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 16 , wherein the assigning Internet Protocol (IP) addresses step comprises at least one of assigning protocol addresses statically and using a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server.

18. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 16 , further comprising: allowing one or more of the IP addresses to change when unused for a specified period of time without requiring reconfiguring of the VCI or the vehicular diagnostic tool.

19. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 7 , further comprising: displaying a unique host name on a first user interface located on the VCI and on a second user interface located on the vehicular diagnostic tool.

20. The vehicular diagnostic communication process of claim 7 , wherein the continuing to multicast the query for available VCIs takes place while there is an established connection to update a status of the VCIs proximate to the vehicular diagnostic tool.